Norma Paulus

Norma Paulus (13 March 1933-28 February 2019) was Secretary of State of Oregon from 3 January 1977 to 7 January 1985 (succeeding H. Clay Myers Jr. and preceding Barbara Roberts) and Supreintendent of Public Instruction of Oregon from 1 October 1990 to 4 January 1999 (succeeding John Erickson and preceding Stan Bunn). In 1986, she was the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial nominee.

Biography
Norma Jean Petersen was born in Belgrade, Nebraska in 1933, and she was raised as one of seven children in Burns, Oregon. She became a legal secretary in Salem before becoming a lawyer, and she served in the State House of Representatives from 1970 to 1975 as a Republican. From 1977 to 1985, she served as Secretary of State of Oregon, supporting an Equal Rights Amendment. In 1986, she decided to run for Governor as the Republican nominee, but she lost to Democrat Neil Goldschmidt. From 1990 to 1999, she served as Superintendent of Public Instruction, introducing statewide assessment testing for primary schools. She died in 2019 at the age of 85.